Solving the Challenge of Overworked Staff

A Gallup poll cited that work stress is the number one reason for employee dissatisfaction. To be honest I’m not sure why this had to be ever polled; I mean, was there ever any doubt?

When working conditions are unsuitable and the job gets overwhelming it challenges not just work satisfaction but also productivity, morale, and eventually profitability if it goes on long enough.

Like all pieces of information these days someone had to go and make an infographic of it all – but this one showcased a few thoughts from the perspective of how a manager and/or organization can spot an over-worked employee.

Take a look and see for yourself (click to enlarge):

Here’s the thing that you already know, especially if you’re in management: Your employees are complex and your situation is complicated, or at least there are too many factors at play which makes the problem difficult to solve.

Although that may be true we’ve discovered that one of the greatest challenges that isn’t directly mentioned in the above infographic is the team dynamicand culture that’s in play. At the end of the day it’s people that are your most valuable asset as well as your greatest challenge and finding the right mix of people to put on the playing field of work, so to speak, is crucial.

If the right team is in play then a lot of solutions not only present themselves but it can head off the growth of dissatisfaction earlier. For example, perhaps the source of anger and irritability, poor memory, lower quality of work, fatigue, and bad time management are really due to the fact that you’re team is out of balance? What if it’s because they aren’t maximizing their natural aptitudes and instead are being asked to perform roles and responsibilities that are contrary to how they are naturally wired?

What if that person on your team who you believe to have an incredibly bad memory doesn’t actually have a bad memory but is instead challenged with the minute details of project work? What if you shifted this person into another role and filled it with someone who not only was good with small details but loved it as well?

What an incredible change and at no cost to you! You’ve shifted staff horizontally and you saved time, money, and energy finding a new person to fill a gap that was easily filled with existing staff!

This scenario, by the way, happens all the time with us as we dive deeper into understanding people at our clients.

Employee dissatisfaction is everyone’s responsibility but until you have a system where you can see it plainly, especially at the team level where it’s really being worked out, you’ll never find a solution (or a new system or process) that’s going to work.

It’s always begins and ends with people and those that they have to work with.

20,000+ Subscribers and Growing!

Our Mission:

AgileScout.com is a Software Development News site dedicated to providing valuable articles, reviews, interviews, and commentary on relevant technology related issues.
We exist to serve the community!
Thanks for dropping by and don't forget to subscribe (you can subscribe individually to different RSS categories).